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GTX 680 differences

majorlee

majorlee

majorlee

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28 Jul 2012
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33
What's the best GTX 680 to get at the moment? I'm trying to decide

Also, why do some of the 680s require an 8pin+6pin instead of 2x6pins?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-183-EA for example, where http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-093-GI is quite close in terms of specs but only needs 2x6pins. Unless 200mhz difference really means that much difference?

Does the 8pin+6pin cards allow for a better self-OC too once you get the card?

Lastly, do you recommend the brand "KFA2" ? I've never heard of them but they look good. Thanks!

EDIT: Is this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-193-EA better than my first link posted also due to the extra fan? How do I know if the hot air is been pushed out of the case from the 2nd graphics bay slot or pushing down INTO the case?
 
I've just bought a Gigabyte Windforce 3x and I got a decent clocker (1260). It's down to luck though really. If you want to take luck out of it then the KFA2 is the best out of the box clocker but as you see, it has a hefty price premium.

However, I would buy a Gigabyte Windforce 3x GTX 670 if I were you. I only bought a second 680 as I already had one from the 680 release day bonanza :).

Reason being is that there is around 5% performance in it and for the price it isn't worth it.

In answer to your question though, the difference between the models is out of the box performance, warranty and the cooler. You can overclock but the level of overclock you'll get is down to the silicon lottery.
 
Rusty0611 said:
I've just bought a Gigabyte Windforce 3x and I got a decent clocker (1260). It's down to luck though really. If you want to take luck out of it then the KFA2 is the best out of the box clocker but as you see, it has a hefty price premium.

However, I would buy a Gigabyte Windforce 3x GTX 670 if I were you. I only bought a second 680 as I already had one from the 680 release day bonanza :).

Reason being is that there is around 5% performance in it and for the price it isn't worth it.

In answer to your question though, the difference between the models is out of the box performance, warranty and the cooler. You can overclock but the level of overclock you'll get is down to the silicon lottery.
Click to expand...

I'm after a 680, not a 670... or was that a typo? :)

Which is widely known to have the best cooler, roughly?
 
The point was unless you want "the best" the 670 performs so close to the 680 that it isn't really worth getting one.

The Gigabyte WF coolers are good. As are the MSI Lightning ones. Can't speak for the KFA2 ones as not read anything about them but for what is effectively a guaranteed 1200+ Mhz clock speed I would say they aren't worth it at all. It's a huge price premium.

IMO the best 680 to buy at the mo is either the Gigabyte Windforce of the MSI Lightning version (probably the latter).
 
The lightning is *so far* the only one that has custom software voltage control.

Although getting it to produce any results is proving.. difficult. I'm convinced nvidia are doing something at driver level to hamper my attempts LOL.

It makes no sense to me that I can bench heaven for 3 hours @ 1382mhz boost with high FPS and yet if I benchmark at that boost I will get a score as low as a stock 7870
 
Rusty mate, may I ask why you purchased another 680? What games were struggling on a single 670? :D and for the overclocking are both of your 680's at them clocks ? As I'm looking to purchase another 670 soonish and I'm thinking if the one I get soon doesn't overclock as well it might have to lose some performance on my first card? Which I wouldn't be interested in or do you have two different clocks for each card?
 
Snodge said:
Rusty mate, may I ask why you purchased another 680? What games were struggling on a single 670? :D and for the overclocking are both of your 680's at them clocks ? As I'm looking to purchase another 670 soonish and I'm thinking if the one I get soon doesn't overclock as well it might have to lose some performance on my first card? Which I wouldn't be interested in or do you have two different clocks for each card?
Click to expand...

Gaming in surround was the reason - and because I can :).

The 670's weren't available when I bought a graphics card on 680 release day. Had I waited, I would have gone the 670 SLI route but unfortunately I was locked into 680's having already had one. I say unfortunately but I got a pair of decent clockers.

Yes both 680's at that overclock. That was the highest common overclock I could achieve. My reference 680 (I have a reference MSI and a GB WF) goes a little higher to 1285.
 
So you reckon if I was to buy a 670 I might be able to get 1215/1800 clocks on both? If lucky? But do both cards have to run at the same speed?
 
I was thinking the EVGA SC Two card would be nice. I don't think i'd benefit from unlocked bios and voltage tweaks, as I'd only ever basic overclock it with MSI afterburner and not faff around too much with settings.

The EVGA has the highest shipping clocks too, but it also requires 8pin+6pin...
 
majorlee said:
I was thinking the EVGA SC Two card would be nice. I don't think i'd benefit from unlocked bios and voltage tweaks, as I'd only ever basic overclock it with MSI afterburner and not faff around too much with settings.

The EVGA has the highest shipping clocks too, but it also requires 8pin+6pin...
Click to expand...

Doesn't that one have a reference cooler though?

Snodge said:
So you reckon if I was to buy a 670 I might be able to get 1215/1800 clocks on both? If lucky? But do both cards have to run at the same speed?
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Possibly. Luck of the draw :).

I don't see any reason why they would have to run at the same speed. Ideally you want both cards almost mirroring each other though when running dual GPU. You may run into more microstuttering problems if they're chugging along at different speeds. If the difference is small I doubt you'd notice.

This is assuming of course that the drivers don't automatically run both cards at the slowest cards speed if they're different. I'm not sure if they do. 6** boost to differing speeds out the box anyway so I'd imagine there's some kind of mechanism to balance them.
 
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The KFA2 one which ships with 1200 out the box is if you don't want to do it yourself or you want to take luck out of the equation. As I said before: a very tasty price to go with it.
 
Snodge said:
Yeah that's what I thought Rusty cheers :)
Click to expand...

FYI from what has turned into my SLI/surround build log thread:

Benchmark of 1080p multiplayer BF3 full Ultra except motion blur and HBAO which were both off - Caspian Border 64. SLI 680's at 1260 core:

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
135471, 1221020, 38, 185, 110.949

No idea what the minimum of 38 was. Game just shuddered and I died. Probably a game/server problem

The 680's weren't fully utilised. It was like "this is too easy" and kicked back with the feet up. Ha ha.
Click to expand...
 
Haha I get some of them WTF dips xD but hey What monitors do you suggest for a 3 monitor setup up or should I just go for one big one 1600p? and then another 670?
 
With the KFA2, it only has Displayport and Mini hdmi. What sort of mini hdmi to HDMI lead should i be looking for? Since HDMI specs range widely. Also, will HDMI give me the same picture quality DVI would, or would that depend on the HDMI features on the cable I buy?

Little unsure if i should buy a card with no DVI connectors.
 
OptimaLnrg said:
with hdmi you can't do 120hz @ 1080p, otherwise it's essentially the same as dvi but can carry sound
Click to expand...

Didn't know that, as I have a 120mhz monitor... does display port to dvi allow for 120hz at 1080p?

There is a lot of different display port to dvi cables out there, im not sure which would be correct either. Thanks for that info!

EDIT: Did some research and going to get a card with DVI connectors!

I've rounded my choices to:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-193-EA (my favoured card atm)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-013-KF (only due to it being on this week only offer, I'm sure 4gb vram is overkill when I plan on going SLI)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-093-GI (3 fans could provide better cooling? unsure on this one, favouring the EVGA one as I say)
 
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